A family of five move from Australia to Argentina trying to blend in like locals. The kids are learning Spanish, he's teaching English and she's doing a psychology degree. Sounds like fun to me.

Wednesday, 29 March 2017

What did they bury in the back yard?

The plumber and his sidekick arrived on a scooter with a
collection of long rods that have travelled down countless drains, and placed
them down on our dinning room floor. I
think the plumber must have accidentally swallowed a humming bird on his way over
here because he spoke so fast I could barely see his lips moving. He could have been auditioning as a beat
boxer for all the sense he made. We asked him to slow down when he spoke to us
but we think that people here have had little exposure to foreigners and just
speak at their normal rate.

Lion tamers put their heads inside the mouths of lions
risking life and limb for the sake of entertainment.This plumber was braver than any lion
tamer.Without a moment’s hesitation he
lifted the lid off the grease trap and plunged his hand into the water past his
elbow.After fishing around he organised
for his offsider to assemble the rods together.While the plumber was pushing the rods down the drain his offsider asked
for a plastic bag and started digging a hole in our back yard.What was the plastic bag for?What was going to go into the hole?Did I want to know the answers to these
questions?Eventually I heard that
wonderful air bubble sound and water whoosing away to goodness knows where.

As I walked the plumbers to the door I couldn’t see the
plastic bag that I gave them and all the while I kept thinking, please don’t
offer to shake my hand.